DR AFFIA AWARENESS DINNER STATEMENT

Dear readers,
As you all know I greatly support the cause of Dr Affia and have posted on her several times. Today I attended a awareness dinner set up by Dr Ihtesham in Southall. I was covering the event for JFAC. Below is a statement issued by Dr Ihtesham...please read and support a very just cause. There will be a further post written by me including more pictures from the night.




event held to support Dr Aafia Siddiqui today (27th January 
2011) 
organised by Dr.Ihtesham Sabri.

The plight of the Pakistani  neuroscientist, Dr Aafia Siddiqui, also known as the 'Daughter of Pakistan', was highlighted today in a very high profile press conference style event held in a prestigious Southall venue, TKC.

Speakers included Lord Nazir Ahmed and well-known journalist Yvonne Ridley, with legal aspects of the case discussed by solicitor Mr Sultan Sabri and barrister Abid Hussain.  Chaired by GP Dr Ihtesham Sabri, the 
panel outlined to a spectrum of media and professional guests the tragic case of Dr Siddiqui, starting with her 
disappearance from Karachi on the 30th March, 2003.  All three of her children were with her when she vanished, and the whereabouts of her youngest son, who was then only months old, are still unknown.

Dr Siddiqui, now 38, had studied in the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US before returning to Pakistan.  She was missing for 5 years before being produced in front of a group of journalists in Ghazny, Afghanistan and subsequently being accused of taking up an unattended rifle to shoot a US soldier-a premise that both Mr Sabri and Barrister Hussain stated to be highly questionable in the least, given her petite 
frame and having a background in neurosciences and academia rather than military training.  In fact, the only individual to sustain any injury during this incident was Dr Siddiqui herself; a gunshot wound to the trunk. 

She was then hurriedly renditioned to the USA to stand trial for having allegedly committed this crime.  Mr Sabri brought to guests' attention the illegality of rendition under International law, Afghanistan being a sovereign country and the scene of the incident in question, whilst Yvonne Ridley cited the Vienna convention  having been 
broken in this act by the US.  All 4 speakers called for a swift and just repatriation for Dr Siddiqui to Pakistan, 
where she can undergo a fair and balanced trial to face any charges openly-there was a common concern that US law courts are acting unjustly and bowing to fierce islamophobic pressures from their people. The sentencing of Dr Siddiqui to 86 years imprisonment was described as unprecedented and the likelihood of appeals being successful under this legal system seem to be disheartening according to the panel's viewpoint.


Yvonne Ridley, who has campaigned fervently for Dr Aafia's cause, shared her journey of discovering and then raising awareness that there was in fact a female prisoner in Bagram, who had come to be known as the Grey Lady, and also as Prisoner 650.  Allegations of this woman being tortured 
abound, and during a subsequent trip to Pakistan there was much public support for her release.  Lord Nazir Ahmed, a famous politician and peer who has fought for Dr Aafia to be repatriated, gave a practical set of action 
points that anyone feeling the injustice of this case can 
follow in an effort to bring justice to Aafia Siddiqui and her young family.These include lobbying local MP's, and US congressmen and women.  By bringing this issue into our mosques and community centres, and writing letters calling for her repatriation to our national newspapers, one may attain greater awareness of the incongruities of 
the fragile case against this mother of three and eminent academic. 

One overwhelming conclusion of this awareness event is that Dr Siddiqui has been reported to have developed a psychiatric condition known as Psychosis, diagnosed in 2008 by US prison psychologist Diane Mclean, in 
which the sufferer has a loss of contact with reality. Dr Ihtesham Sabri spoke about the effects that this condition can have on altering an individual's mental capacity to consent and also in making any decisions, not least to stand trial in such a perilous case. He also expressed concern that it would be unlikely for a person of Dr 
Siddiqui's circumstances and stage of life to develop this distressing condition without external factors such as sensory deprivation techniques, and cited UK politicians who had accused MI5 of outsourcing and complicity in torture.  He called for an urgent independent medical delegation to be allowed to visit and assess Dr Siddiqui in the USA where she is now incarcerated.


Best 
regards,

Dr.Ihtesham Sabri